Conductivity
by ColdGoldLazarus
Summary: Water conducts lightning. A Will/Irma oneshot collection of questionable quality.
1. Sleepover

**Note: This takes place in a sort of mixing of the show and comic continuities; Caleb isn't turned into a flower and the Guardians still don't have their secondary powers yet (particularly Taranee's telepathy) but the incident with Irma and Hornby has occurred and Taranee and Nigel are already together,** **like in the comics.**

* * *

On some level, it was downright surreal how normal everything felt. After weeks of escalating battle, the Guardians of the Veil had won, and Phobos was defeated. That had been yesterday. Today, the Guardians of the Veil were gathered in Cornelia's room. The only battle on their minds was the pillow-based combat Hay Lin was inevitably sure to incite; the only alarming developments were when Napoleon the cat got into the room and began knocking things off the shelves; the only rebellion was against the notion of mushrooms on their pizza. Today was a day to relax, and the guardians were all too grateful for the opportunity. Will's mother had even allowed her to come, though whether it was out of good spirits of simply being too exhausted for yet another blazing row was unclear.

Unfortunately for one member of the group, the removal of Phobos' threat meant that the more down-to-earth issues she'd been grappling with as of late were back on the forefront of her mind, and she was no closer to finding a solution. She wasn't one to resign to helplessness, either, but here, it truly felt like there was nothing she could do but hope the problem somehow magically disappeared, even if she was well aware by now of how very real magic was.

And unfortunately, the others wouldn't stop reminding her of it, even if unintentionally. "Oh my goodness, this has got to be the eighth time tonight!" Hay Lin smiled cheekily at Will as the redhead scrambled to pick up her beeping phone.

After sending off a quick text in response, the leader made a show of crossing her arms and jutting out her chin, with a humorously exaggerated expression of distaste. "So what if I want to get back in touch with Matt? They missed me at the pet shop lately."

"Yeah, I'm sure _that's_ the only reason," Irma said, hoping her snarky grin didn't look too fake.

Will only rolled her eyes and redirected the conversation. "Say, Taranee, how's it going with Nigel?"

"You traitor!" Taranee gasped, holding one hand to her heart and stretching the other toward heaven as she fell backward dramatically. "But yeah, we're good, he invited me to a date yesterday. It felt good to accept and _know_ I could make it without business with Meridian getting in the way."

Cornelia saw the glances in her direction, and promptly decided that discretion was the better part of valor. "As hostess, I should probably go check if the pizza has arrived yet!" She rushed out the door before anyone could stop her.

"Right, she's not having such a good time with Caleb," Hay Lin observed. An awkward silence fell.

"Well, what about _you_ two?" Taranee finally said, waving an arm vaguely at Irma and Hay Lin. "You shouldn't be allowed to give us a hard time about our boyfriends if you don't have ones yourselves! In fact, _is_ there anyone you're interested in?"

Irma immediately blushed. Yes, she did, but it would be a disaster if the others found out. Unfortunately, if Hay Lin's excited squeal was anything to go by, disaster had struck. Crap.

"Oh my goodness, Irma has her eye on someone!" Hay Lin was suddenly in the brunette's face, her smile approaching chershire-cat levels of scale. "Ooh, is it Martin?"

Despite her annoyance at the situation, Irma couldn't help but openly laugh in the asian girl's face. "Him? Yeah, because short, awkward, and utterly cringeworthy is _totally_ my type." When Hay Lin's expression didn't change, Irma's fell into a scowl. "No!"

Cornelia returned, bearing the promised food. Everyone quickly dug in, but Irma's troubles were far from over, as the blonde was filled in on the new development. "Is it that Hornby boy you turned into a frog that one time?"

"Please, after what he tried to pull on me, it's safe to say I'm over him like a bridge." Irma dismissed, attempting to tamp down on her growing frustration. There had been a reason she'd transformed him in the first place, even if it hadn't been intentional on her part.

"Is it someone we even know?" Will asked, looking up from her phone. Somehow that just made it worse.

"Yes, you all know them pretty well." Irma muttered, resentment beginning to show. "Trust me, you'll never guess in a million years, I'm sure of it."

"Well, will you just tell us?" Taranee braved.

Unfortunately, her talent for sparking explosions seemed to apply here as well, as Irma rocketed to her feet. " **NO!** Just _please_ stop asking! It's not like I have a chance there anyway; I know for a fact I'm not her type, and they're already taken by someone else anyway! Will you get off my case already?" With a shuddering sigh, Irma forced her rage back down and dropped back down into a sitting position, grabbing her discarded pizza and tearing into it with a vicious bite. The others stared at her with shock, and she lowered her gaze in shame.

"Oh." Hay Lin finally said, visibly deflated. "Uh, sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry, are you? Well why…" Irma stopped herself, taking a deep breath to calm the surging tides of rage within. "Listen, no, I'm sorry too. That was completely uncalled for… it's just, this has been stressing me out since before things with Phobos got serious, and now that he's gone... There's nothing I can do but wait and try to get over them. Other fish in the sea and all that. I just… don't want to think about it right now."

After another long silence, she was surprised when Will, then Cornelia, then Taranee and Hay Lin enveloped her in a firm but gentle embrace.

"Alright, alright, that's enough sappiness for one day," she finally said. "Let's just eat!" This time, though, she gave them all a broad grin, which was quickly returned - no hard feelings. The rest of the night went much better - particularly since Irma had surreptiously turned Will's phone on silent.

* * *

As they settled into their sleeping bags for the evening, Irma caught herself looking across the room at Will; a few moonbeams shone through the curtains and onto the redhead's face, and it was so perfect that Irma's hopelessness was for a moment outweighed by a stronger feeling, the one that had gotten her into this mess to begin with. Was it love? She wasn't sure. Whatever it was, it welled up inside her like a deep-sea current, filled not with icy water but with warm feelings, something beyond the usual surge that came with her magic.

It wasn't much and it made her yearn for more, but for those moments, watching the moon caress her leader - no, her _friend's_ face with its silver light in the way she wished she could, she attained a measure of peace. What they had now wasn't what she wanted, but it was still something. And for now, it would have to be enough.


	2. Astral Drops

**Welp, that was much sooner than I expected. While I didn't intend for there to be any direct continuity between one-shots, this one could be considered something of a sequel to the first installment. This one also got a lot heavier than I intended, so consider yourselves warned. Regardless, I hope you enjoy, and remember to drop a review!**

 **TheKillingJar: Thank you! I felt it would be interesting to look at the little space between The Final Battle and A Is For Anonymous, so I'm glad it went over well with you. I'm admittedly particularly nervous about my portrayal of the characters thus far, so thank you for the kind words.**

* * *

"Oh, just kill me now," Irma groaned under her breath. "I know better than this, you _never_ say… or think… that nothing can go wrong. _That just guarantees it._ "

The mysteriously wishy-washy behavior of the Annihilators had been all-but-forgotten the moment she re-absorbed her Astral Drop. Well, not the exact moment, as the memories took several minutes to trickle in, (which had been particularly inconvenient during that incident with Hay Lin's play) but it wasn't long after that she found herself overwhelmed by a sudden need to bang her head against the wall. "Stupid, stupid stupid stupid!"

It wasn't even her Drop's fault. Not entirely, anyway. She knew already how utterly flaky they could be, and she'd given very specific instructions to try to counteract that. The problem was, she wasn't sure if her instructions had been _too_ specific, or not specific enough. Either way, she was in for an awkward and painful meeting once the bell rang. Maybe if she just went to the next class, ignoring her locker… but no, she'd have to change books, and avoiding Will wasn't going to last in the long run. Or in the medium run, for that matter.

No, it looked like she'd just have to face the music. With her luck, it would be Wreck 55's music. Eurgh.

* * *

Time in class normally seemed to pass at a glacier's pace, as if to draw out the suffering for as long as possible, but of course now that she had the incoming meeting to dread, Irma found that the clock moved far too fast for her liking. In what seemed like no time at all, the bell rang, and everyone rushed out into the halls.

 _The bell rang and everyone rushed out into the halls. Not-Irma had been one of the first ones out of the door, not needing to spend time putting her books back into her bag… having failed to realize she was meant to take them out in the first place. Down the hall she went, beaming widely at everything that caught her passing fancy. Irma had given her an important job, and she felt just so happy to be entrusted with such responsibility!_

Irma was the last one out of the door. Down the hall she trudged, scowling sullenly at everything that looked even remotely like a potential inconvenience. _Had enough of those as it is._ Unfortunately, her mood was destined to be made worse, as she found herself in a particularly nasty predicament; two all-too-familiar girls came up on each side, hemming her in. "Oooh, our Irmy's such a deviant!" squealed Bess and Courtney Grumper in a frightening display of synchronization, "What a scandal!"

 _Unfortunately, her mood was destined to be dampened slightly, as she found herself in a mild predicament; two unfamiliar girls somehow appeared on either side of her, smirking in a way that shook even her boundless optimism. "So, what's the news today?" One asked, the other elaborating with "Our Irmy almost looks like she cares about school today! Something must be up. Is it a boy?" Not-Irma was struggling to string together a good answer out of what little sprung to mind, when they arrived at what she instinctively knew to be her locker. Two lockers down was Not-Will, and she mentally pleaded for her to make everything better._

Irma was debating between multiple witty retorts that instantly sprung to mind, when they arrived at her locker. Two lockers down was Will, and she could only groan; this just made everything worse. "Ooh, will you _run_ to your _girlfriend_?" The two perpetually shark-like girls were circling now; having wounded the prey earlier, it was now just a matter of time before they moved in for the kill.

" _My, are you_ scared _of us? You can't be our_ real _Irmy, she's got too much guts for that!" The two strangely shark-like girls were all but sniffing around, waiting for the blood in the water that would send them on their next hunt._

 _Thankfully, Not-Will seemed to recognize the danger of discovery, moving closer with something of a threatening stance. "Hey, what do you two think you're doing? Back off!"_

" _Or you'll what?" Bess smirked. "I'd like to see you try anything, Will-_ muh!" _It was that day that it was discovered that, regardless of original version or Astral Drop, some things were just constants. Not-Will swung a fist, and the two instantly ran off, screaming and crying in an exaggerated manner._

Regrettably, Will seemed not to recognize the danger of fueling the fire, moving closer with something of a threatening stance. "Will you two just leave her alone?"

"Oh, do you want to get into even _deeper_ trouble?" Courtney's voice was as coy and syrupy as ever, but her expression was unusually stiff. "Don't make me get the teachers _again._ "

Will just sneered. "I already have detention from now until the rest of the year. Do you think that'll scare me? Now shoo."

The two nodded their heads and left, but Irma could make out some of their whispering; something about Matt, unfaithfulness, and aggression. "Damn them," the Guardian of Water swore, pounding a fist against her own locker in frustration. She caught Will looking at her, and suddenly the awkwardness had sprung back up like an invisible brick wall between them.

 _Not-Irma watched the two go, glad they were out of her hair. "I don't like them," she commented, opening her locker to change out books. (She had no clue which ones she needed, but she figured that since everyone else was doing it, she should too.)_

 _Once she was done, she caught Not-Will looking at her, and suddenly another instinctive remnant of her source's consciousness made itself known. Real Will or not, the redheaded girl standing by her side was so very beautiful, the hall itself seeming to be replaced by a pink pattern of frogs and fishes, as the heroic leader's astral drop's short hair was stirred by a nonexistent wind._

Oh, but Real Irma told me not to kiss Martin, Andrew Hornby, or Will! _What could she do?_

Will looked gorgeous, she had to admit, even her almost feral behavior just now only serving to strengthen the pounding in Irma's chest. Unfortunately, if ever there was a time for that, this was not it. Irma felt trapped, needing to say something but unsure of what wouldn't just make it all worse. What could she do?

They must have spent some time standing there, because Will finally took charge, raising a curious eyebrow. "So… earlier. Our drops. Any idea what that was about?"

Irma sighed and closed her eyes. She should have just stayed behind from this mission.

 _Not-Irma came to a quick and clever decision. She had been told not to kiss_ Will _, certainly, but it could be argued that her fellow Astral Drop wasn't Will, not really. The decision was too easy. Leaning forward, she allowed her lips to brush the redhead's cheek, before moving in for a chaste peck right on the mouth. For a moment, the world seemed to explode in a glorious burst of color, and even in her stilted Astral Drop heart, there were the stirrings of real emotion. She was so glad Real Irma had gone on that mission._

 _And then the kiss was over, and Not-Irma simply walked off, feeling unbelievably proud of herself, completely oblivious as the hallway behind exploded with gossip. She also missed the expressions of pure shock on the Grumper Sisters' faces down the other hall. A shame really, for that alone could have improved Real Irma's mood by a lot._

"Right, yeah, that. Um… usual Astral Drop silliness?" Irma knew it wasn't very convincing, but for once in her life she was utterly lost for words. Time to resort to desperate measures. _Take my word for it, take my word for it, TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!"_

"...Right then, I guess I'll just have to take your word for it." Will shrugged and frowned, turning her attention to her textbooks, and Irma did her best to suppress a sudden riptide of guilt. "Still, we're going to have to figure out what to do about all of them; the whole school will be talking about us soon enough. I mean, two girls kissing, pretty weird, right?"

Irma felt her heart sink like a breached submarine. "Right." Raking textbooks into her bag without even looking at them, she closed her locked and walked away, head hanging low.

* * *

It was evening, and the Annihilators had finally been destroyed, Will stepping up to the plate and electrifying the foes, quite literally. There was victory to be found in that, Irma supposed, and she had managed to wear quite an effective mask through the remainder of the conflict. But now she was home, and her facade could drop. Tom and Anna Lair seemed to sense her mood, and so dinner was something of a sullen affair all-around.

"Two girls… pretty weird… No, no. I can't do this anymore," Irma finally muttered, pushing away her plate of uneaten lasagne. "Mom, Dad? I gotta tell you something."


End file.
